Dry ends and methods of the type in question here are known DE 39 41 242 A1. At the start of the manufacture of a material web, for example on a paper manufacturing machine, the material web emerging from a press is firstly diverted into a spoil collection area upstream of the first dry end or drying group adjoining the press. It is also conceivable to direct the material web from the press as far as the first dry cylinder of the dry group adjoining the press and to divert it on from there into a spoil collection area. In order to thread the material web through the dry end, a threading strip which is also referred to as a band is cut off from the leader edge of the material web in the longitudinal direction (running direction of the machine) and that edge is threaded through the dry end, preferably at full working speed of the paper manufacturing machine, without displacing it sideways. For this purpose, the threading strip must run through the dry cylinder and web guiding rollers of the dry end along a winding path. For this reason, it is necessary to guide and to stabilize this strip so that it does not become wound around the dry cylinder, which would cause the threading procedure to be interrupted. The known dry end has nozzle devices, for example compressed air pipes which extend at least over the width of the threading strip and serve to pick off said strip from a dry cylinder and transfer it to the following web guiding roller viewed in the conveying direction of the material web. It has become apparent that the transfer of the threading strip does not take place reliably in all cases, with the result that a threading procedure frequently has to be aborted and repeated, and it becomes necessary to clean the dry end.